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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, March 6, 2018 – Continuing to help community TV broadcasters deliver engaging and informative viewing experiences to their growing online audiences, Tightrope Media Systems will launch new version 6.4 of its Cablecast Community Media platform at the 2018 NAB Show. The new update improves accessibility for hearing-impaired viewers while enabling customers to complement their streamed videos with relevant supporting documents for their visitors. Cablecast 6.4 will be demonstrated in Tightrope’s NAB Show suite at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort (Westgate Director B) from April 9-12.

The new enhancements build on Cablecast’s powerful turnkey website publishing tools, which enable customers to quickly and easily deploy sophisticated, public-facing video content portals without time-consuming, specialized coding. Expanded closed caption capabilities in version 6.4 improve web and mobile video accessibility for hearing-impaired viewers. Complementing Cablecast's long-standing ability to deliver closed captions on stations’ cable television channels, the new update adds similar support for live streams and VOD programming.

“Extending Cablecast’s closed caption support to streaming delivery helps make content as inclusively accessible to hearing-impaired audiences online as it is on cable television, and provides a valuable service to the community,” said Steve Israelsky, President, Cablecast Community Media. “Furthermore, many stations we work with whose streaming efforts aren’t mandated by FCC or ADA requirements have still expressed a desire to provide online closed captioning as part of their accessibility and transparency initiatives.”

Cablecast 6.4 also allows community broadcasters to display a more flexible array of information alongside their live streams and VOD clips, and offers greater control of how such material is presented. Most significantly for municipalities and public sector boards, documents such as agendas and minutes can be displayed next to video of their meetings, and can be downloaded by viewers. New database fields also allow the display of custom metadata, while standard fields can now be hidden from viewers as desired.

“The online user experience is more important for community broadcasters than ever before, as an increasing segment of their audience chooses to watch their programming on the web or mobile devices rather than on cable TV,” explained Israelsky. “Cablecast 6.4 helps our customers take full advantage of the web medium to tailor the online viewing experience, while delivering valuable supporting materials such as meeting minutes to their viewers, in ways that are not possible with traditional television distribution.”

In addition to Cablecast 6.4’s viewer-facing updates, the software’s new Live Chaptering feature offers workflow improvements for operators. VOD chapter markers, which let viewers jump directly to sections of interest in VOD clips without scrubbing, can be added in real time while live video recording is in progress. This alternative to earlier versions’ post-recording process saves time for program producers, while making content available to web visitors sooner.

NAB Show demonstrations of Cablecast will also highlight new features introduced late last year in version 6.3, including optional StreamSource direct IP input support for live remote contribution, and LiveOverlay pass-through graphics for live channel branding and crawls.

The Cablecast 6.4 upgrade is slated to be released in April, and will be free for Cablecast Flex customers on active support agreements. To schedule a meeting with the Cablecast team at the NAB Show, please visit bit.ly/CablecastNAB2018 or call (866) 866-4118.

About Cablecast

For over 20 years, the Cablecast Community Media platform from Tightrope Media Systems has enabled exceptional workflow efficiency, usability and versatility to help local cable channels, campus television and other community media providers engage their viewers in the evolving media landscape. The comprehensive Cablecast product line provides complete, tightly-integrated broadcast solutions including station automation, playout servers, Internet video on demand and live streaming.